56–4

Conversation No. 56-4
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(rev. 10/08)




Date: May 11, 1971
Time: 8:02 am - unknown before 9:45 am
Location: Cabinet Room

The President met with Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, William P. Rogers, John B. Connally,
John H. Chafee, John N. Mitchell, Winton M. (“Red”) Blount, Rogers C. B. Morton, Clifford M.
Hardin, Maurice H. Stans, James D. Hodgson, Elliot L. Richardson, George W. Romney, John
A. Volpe, David M. Kennedy, George P. Shultz, Robert H. Finch, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George
H. W. Bush, John D. Ehrlichman, Clark MacGregor, Peter M. Flanigan, Peter G. Peterson, Dr.
Edward E. David, Jr., Raymond K. Price, Jr., Alexander P. Butterfield, Ronald L. Ziegler, Robert
J. Brown, and Arthur J. Sohmer
[Recording begins while the conversation is in progress; discontinuities appear in the original
recording]

Meeting agenda
-Reports on trips
-President’s schedule

The President left at 8:06 am


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Rogers’ travels

[To listen to the segment (34m4s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-519.]

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Rogers’ travels
-Press coverage
-Washington, DC demonstrations
-Anwar el-Sadat

Desalinization
-Report by Dr. David
-Additional attendees


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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)




Rogers’ travels

[To listen to the segment (52s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-519.]

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Glenn T. Seaborg, Dr. William D. McElroy, Donald B. Rice, James R. Smith, William S.
Butcher, John W. O’Meara, John C. Whitaker, and Frank R. Pagnotta entered at an unknown
time after 8:06 am; photographers were present at the beginning of the meeting

[Unintelligible]

Desalinization
-Technology
-Thomas Jefferson’s 1791 report
-Office of Saline Water [OSW] [of the Interior Department]
-Establishment
-Purpose
-Progress
-Cost
-Industrial and government
-Activities
-Water supply
-Waste water
-Re-use
-Use
-Irrigation
-City usage
-Salt content
-Energy supply
-Future use
-Southern California
-Brownsville, Texas
-Urban, arid, and coastal areas
-Available brackish water
-Plains, Texas
-Clinton, Oklahoma
-Use of sewage water
-Industrial needs
-Distillation plants
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

Tape Subject Log
(rev. 10/08)



-Rosarito, Mexico
-Output
-Energy supply
-Cost
-Key West, Florida
-Cost
-Orange County, California
-Future output
-Future costs
-Federal government, Orange County
-Future use
-Technology
-Possible future plant at Diablo Canyon, California
-Pacific Gas and Electric Company [PG&E] nuclear power plant
-Possible costs
-Orange County

The President entered at 8:42 am

-Feasibility
-Nuclear power

Nuclear power
-Breeder reactor
-Advantages
-Tie with desalinization
-Fusion
-Effect on costs, manufacturing processes
-Timetable and funding

Desalinization
-Distillation plants
-Costs
-Hempstead, New York
-Uses of water
-Multi-purpose plants
-Solid waste disposal
-Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]
-Costs for energy and water

Nuclear plants
-Heat generated
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(rev. 10/08)



-A plant in [Name unintelligible]
-Costs

Desalinization
-Brackish water
-Methods
-Electrodialysis
-Reverse osmosis
-A plant in Florida
-Output, costs
-Reverse osmosis
-Materials used
-General Dynamics
-DuPont
-A plant in Greenfield, Iowa
-Output
-Reverse osmosis plants compare with distillation plants
-Federal role
-OSW
-Cost
-Private sector involvement
-Atomic Energy Commission [AEC], National Science Foundation, and
Department of Defense [DOD]
-Cost
-Interior Department


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World application

[To listen to the segment (1m24s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-519.]

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-Sources of technology
-Jack O’Meara, acting director of OSW
-Industry and university participation
-University of Florida and University of California, Los Angeles [UCLA]
-DuPont
-World market
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NIXON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIALS STAFF

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-Middle East
-Possible export
-US competition with France, England, and Japan
-Middle East
-US industry’s prices
-Government subsidies
-British, Germans
-Technology compared with US
-Costs
-Subsidies
-Research and development
-Needs
-Prototype California plant
-San Luis Obispo water district
-Methods
-OSW
-OSW
-Accomplishments
-Possible effect of breeder reactor
-Future plans
-Possible effect of breeder


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Atomic energy study

[To listen to the segment (2m4s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-519.]

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-US position
-Funding commitment
-Compared with other countries
-University of Florida, UCLA
-Atomic Energy Commission
-Breeder reactor
-Public opinion
-Costs
-Seaborg
-Government commitment
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(rev. 10/08)



-Department of Interior
-Resources
-Research
-Application of technology
-Cost-sharing
-Industries and experience
-Markets
-Foreign markets
-US markets
-Cost factors
-Needs
-Prototype plant
-Timetable
-Diablo Canyon and Santa Barbara, California
-Funding
-Prototype plant
-Rogers’ Middle East trip
-Jordan River
-Gordon Canal
-Sea of Galilee
-Gordon Canal
-Compared to Imperial Valley of California
-Compared to the space program
-US position
-Japan, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]
-Prototype plant
-OSW
-Goal
-Private sector
-Compared with Supersonic Transport [SST]
-Compared with Sputnik
-USSR, Britain, France, and Japan comparison
-Cost-sharing
-Other countries
-Application of technology
-Cost-sharing
-Government involvement
-Domestic Council
-Department of Interior
-Scientists
-Compared with other countries
-Uses
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-Texas, Southern California
-Foreign policy
-Non-arable lands


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India and Pakistan

[To listen to the segment (36s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-519.]

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Nuclear power
-Breeder reactor
-Public opinion
-Connection with desalinization

President’s wartime experiences
-Green Islands

Nuclear power
-Breeder reactor
-Application of technology
-Cost-sharing

Desalinization
-Costs
-Compared with dam building
-Coastal cities’ needs
-Ocean water, inland water
-Effects
-Lake Mead
-Texas
-High Plains
-Ogalala Reservoir
-Effects
-Current situation
-A possible new plant in Clinton, Oklahoma
-Timetable
-Midwest
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-Opportunities
-Funding

Seaborg, et al. left at an unknown time before 9:45 pm


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[Unintelligible]

International monetary situation

The President left at 9:45 am

[To listen to the segment (9m53s) declassified on 02/28/2002, please refer to RC# E-520.]

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Agnew, et al. left at an unknown time before 9:45 am